A team of researchers has developed a digital pen that could offer a solution to the dilemma of whether to keep or scrap the paper cheque system.

Academics from York, Newcastle and Northumbria Universities created the new technology after speaking to a group of octogenarians about how they used their cheque books.

Cheques are costly and slow for banks to process, but a decision to get rid of the antiquated system was recently overturned by people power after campaign groups lobbied for its survival. Despite banks pushing the use of debit cards and other technology, the elderly and other vulnerable groups, as well as charities and small businesses, still rely on cheques.

The academic team has been working on a way to preserve the fundamental functions of a cheque book but at the same time to make the process sleeker and easier to manage for banks. The idea they have come up with involves redesigning the cheque book and providing a digital pen.

The cheques will look the same but closer inspection will reveal the background is made up of billions of small dots that are inlaid in a unique pattern. People will still write a cheque as they do now, but will use a digital pen that can read the payment as it is written out. The only new addition is a special box which, once the cheque is complete, is simply ticked and the money is transferred directly to the payee.

The team believes that the innovative system combines the traditional use of cheques, which help vulnerable individuals retain their independence, with cutting-edge technology that makes it easier for banks to process them.

However, while those customers included in the study may have given the idea their approval, banks will still have to agree to invest in the new design for it to ever see the light of the day in the real world.